PRO FOOTBALL

PRO FOOTBALL; Spotlight Falls on Elliott In Jets' Brawling Week

By GERALD ESKENAZI

Published: December 14, 2002

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Dec. 13—
It is not the way a team wants to prepare for a big game on Sunday, but the Jets had no choice today. Before the team traveled to Champaign, Ill., to play the Chicago Bears, Nassau County police detectives arrived at the Jets' practice facility to interview players about an incident in which a limousine driver fractured a kneecap after being thrown to the ground.

Neither the Jets nor the police would release the names of the players interviewed in connection with the incident. Nevertheless, one Jets player -- Jumbo Elliott, the longtime lineman -- found himself in an unwelcome spotlight.

The 37-year-old Elliott, a onetime Pro Bowl tackle for the Giants but now a little-used backup on the Jets' offensive line, was identified today in The Star-Ledger of Newark as the man who is accusedof assaulting the driver outside a Long Island restaurant Monday night.

A Nassau County police spokesman said late today, after Jets players met with the police, that no charges had been filed in the case.

The driver, 60-year-old Donald Matinski of East Meadow, N.Y., is the owner of Somerset Limousine. He told the police he had arranged to pick up Jets players outside Rothmann's Steakhouse, a popular eatery in East Norwich. About a dozen Jets were at the restaurant, including most of the offensive linemen.

Matinski told the police that one of the players in the limousine was drunk and became abusive and that he asked the player to leave the car. Matinski said the player knocked him to the ground. Matinski sustained a slight kneecap fracture and was taken to North Shore Syosset Hospital.

Coach Herman Edwards said Thursday that he knew the name of the player involved in the incident -- in effect, putting him ahead of the police -- but today he would not elaborate on what he knew. He also said he had no plans to talk to the police after 3:30 p.m. because ''I'm taking my son out to dinner for his birthday.''

Edwards maintained that today's police interviews with various players, coming on the heels of an unusual series of altercations on the practice field Thursday, would have no effect on how the team performed against the Bears.

Asked if he was talking to the players about Monday night's incident and Thursday's brawls rather than discussing the 3-10 Bears, Edwards replied: ''We talked about the Bears. There are a lot of distractions, a lot of inconveniences this week. We said that Wednesday. The title for this week was 'Inconvenience,' so we understand that. We are going to get some more tomorrow when we go up to Champaign.''

Because the Bears' regular stadium, Soldier Field, is being renovated, the Bears are playing in Champaign this season -- a two-hour bus ride for the Jets from the airport.

Elliott, meanwhile, gave guarded responses to a reporter's questions about what occurred Monday night. Asked if he was in the limousine, Elliott replied, ''I was at dinner.'' Asked if there was an altercation, he said: ''I don't know what you're talking about. Is that a football question?''

The question of Elliott's involvement could have serious consequences for his future, but not for the Jets. They have been using him to block on extra points and field-goal attempts, with an occasional foray as an extra blocker in goal-line situations.

Elliott has run afoul of the law twice in recent years. In 1998, he was arrested in Manhasset, near his home at the time, for driving while impaired. He pleaded guilty. A year later, he was arrested after a bar brawl in Hempstead in which several patrons and three police officers were injured. Also arrested were Jets offensive tackle Jason Fabini, who remains a starter on the team, and a former teammate, Matt O'Dwyer.

Elliott, who admitted punching a bar patron and urinating in a sink in the women's bathroom, was fined $250 and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service. He was also suspended by the N.F.L. for the first two games of the 2000 season under what the league called its anticrime policy.

If Elliott knocked the driver to the ground, he would, at the least, face another two-game suspension by the N.F.L.

It's unclear whether Elliott is interested in playing beyond this season.

After playing in 11 games for the Jets in the 2000 season, he returned last year as an assistant line coach. He was back as a player this season, but his role hardly compares to the days when he held down the left-tackle spot for the Giants and helped them win a Super Bowl in the 1990 season. He spent eight years with the Giants and joined the Jets in 1996.

Photos: Jumbo Elliott was identified in a published report as the Jets player who is accused of assaulting a limousine driver outside a restaurant. (Kevin P. Coughlin for The New York Times)(pg. D1); A limousine driver has told the police he was assaulted by a Jets player outside this restaurant. (Kevin P. Coughlin for The New York Times)(pg. D2)